Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne said on Saturday that it was team spirit that was helping the defending champions win close matches in the IPL.

A depleted Royals have won three of the seven matches they have played in the Twenty20 league. Barring the five-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils, the wins against Kolkata Knight Riders and Saturday’s three-wicket win here at the St. George’s against table-toppers Deccan Chargers have been close.

Against Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals won through the Super Over after the match ended in a tie while against Deccan Chargers they scampered home with just two balls left.

“The batting hasn’t been good in the first six overs. But it is the team spirit that is winning matches for us. From last year to this IPL our team spirit has been excellent,” said Warne.

Warne lauded his boys for showing incredible courage to pull off close matches. “We are peaking at the right time and hopefully will make to the semi-finals,” he said.

Asked why he promoted himself up the batting order, Warne said: “Our top order is not batting well. So I wanted Yusuf Pathan to come later on in the innings and finish off things. He is a good finisher and a clean hitter of the ball.”

Pathan hit a 14-ball 24 and picked up one for 19 to pick up the Man of the Match award.

“It was a good wicket to bat on and the ball was coming on nicely and made stroke playing easy,” he said.

Tags: Adam Gilchrist, Deccan Chargers Vs Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2009, IPL 2009 News, IPL Scores, IPL Updates, RP Singh, Shane Warne, Yusuf Pathan

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Having suffered their first defeat in the tournament, table toppers Deccan Chargers will seek to return to winning ways when they clash with an unpredictable Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday.

Although the Deccan Chargers’ fairytale campaign was stopped on Thursday night by the Delhi Daredevils, the Hyderabad team is a formidable opponent for the Royals and are sitting pretty at the top with four wins out of five matches.

Tagged as laggards last year, the Chargers have been a revelation in this edition of the IPL Twenty20 tournament and looked unstopabble till Thursday when Daredevils defeated them by six wickets.

The Chargers’ will be relying heavily on captain Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs, who flopped for the first time in the event against the Daredevils, to fire up front as the duo played a significant role in their success so far.

Gilchrist and Gibbs have been in rampaging form and have blown away their opponents with their powerful hitting. The Chargers middle order looks impressive with Rohit Sharma and Dwayne Smith scoring against the Daredevils on Thursday.

Except for one bad outing against the Daredevils, the Hyderabad team’s bowling department has also looked in good shape with RP Singh leading from the front and young Pragyan Ojha emerging as a new talent in India’s spin department.

West Indian Fidel Edwards, who looked little out of sorts against the Daredevils, will look to come out charged up against the Royals to make amends for his poor show. On the other hand, with two victories out of six matches, Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals, are at the bottom half of the points table.

The defending champions had a mixed outing in the tournament so far and lacked consistency in their performance. Their unpredictability can be ascertained from the fact that just after their five-wicket triumph over formidable Dardevils on Tuesday, they slumped to a 38-run loss at the hands of a struggling Chennai Super Kings on Thursday.

Batting continues to remain a concern area for the Royals with the top three Graeme Smith, Rob Quiney and Swapnil Asnodkar emerging as a big disappointment. The defending champions are depending heavily on Yusuf Pathan to come good which is putting extra pressure on the right-hander.

The Royals’ bowlers too have their task cut out as Super Kings’ Suresh Raina smashed them all over the park to expose their weakness.

To add to their woes, the Royals might have to do away with young Kamran Khan who injured his foot against Chennai and didn’t come out to bat later.

Tags: Adam Gilchrist, Deccan Chargers Vs Rajasthan Royals, Graeme Smith, Hershchelle Gibbs, Hyderabad Deccan Chargers, IPL 2, IPL 2009, IPL 2009 News, IPL Scores, IPL South Africa, IPL Updates, Jaipur Rajasthan Royals, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Shane Warne, Yusuf Pathan

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